Even Though You Break Me
by Of Darklings and Shadow Men
Summary: "Even though she was breaking me, she did it so beautifully; I didn't mind being broken." A cute little one-shot about what happened that fateful day when Julian saw Jenny for the first time. :)


_Even Though You Break Me..._

**This is just a short little story that came to my mind today, so I decided to jot it down real fast. Let me know what you think! :)**

_**Julian**_

"Hunting a child, I see." Nile sniffed. "Bored with the older ones, Julian?"

"Hardly," I replied smoothly, crossing my arms over my chest. The little boy in the playground was staring into the shadowed underbrush of the forest, his eyes wide with uneasiness. The first sign that he'd seen something he wasn't supposed to. Perhaps a branch out of place or a shadow slithering where it wasn't meant to be. He was inching toward the trees, curiosity getting the better of him. Foolish child. It was a bad idea to enter dark places and play forbidden games.

Nile hissed with eagerness beside me. He was a disgusting, wicked creature with twisted horns studding his back and sickly yellow eyes. But his voice was smooth as steel and slid from his fangs like velvet. A Shadow Man in his true form, creeping about the human world. We were nothing alike. I suspected he was jealous because while he was hideous, I remained unchanged. My true nature hadn't claimed me yet and I wanted to keep it that way for a long while.

"When are you going to take him?" Nile asked.

I shrugged with one shoulder. "He's been getting too close for weeks now," I told him. "He doesn't realize how dangerous that is."

He chuckled with bloodlust and rubbed his palms together in anticipation. "They always get too close in the beginning," he singsonged. "You must tell me what you do with this one, little Julian."

I arched an eyebrow at "little Julian," and gestured toward the boy with one hand. "You want him?"

His eyebrows flicked up in surprise, followed by a fanged grin of dark intent. The old Nile would've pulled off the expression without looking so gruesome. He'd been deformed so recently, that many still remembered what he used to be: a broad-shouldered Shadow Man with a brilliant shock of fiery hair and flame-gold eyes. They constantly made fun of him after the change. I wasn't looking forward to mine.

"You sure you don't want him?" he asked, sinking long talons into the earth.

"I'm sure."

"Very well then." He slid behind me, stalking into the trees. His pale gaze flashed back at me. "Don't tell the others, just yet, little Julian. They'll all want to have a taste." His laugh rang like glass shattering and then he was gone.

I turned away and slipped back into the darkness between the trees. It was a bright day in the heart of summer. Children had gotten out of school a while ago and were all outside at this time of day. Plenty of prey for waiting Shadow Men. They loved to roam the streets openly, cloaked in ghostly disguises, and wait for a human to catch their eye. Then they closed in. I smiled to myself. _Many children will be going missing this summer._

I emerged into a different part of the forest. It was an unfamiliar place that I hadn't been to before. At the edge of the trees, I looked out at a family's backyard. Their pool gleamed blue-and-white in the sunlight and grass stretched out in front of it like an emerald sea. If I looked hard enough, I could spot a couple moving through the screen door. I smiled again. More unsuspecting prey. They would never see me coming. I took a step forward.

A flash of gold made me pause.

A little girl was playing in the yard, sitting with her legs crossed while she searched for four-leafed clovers. The golden flash had been her flipping her hair back over her shoulder. It was long and flowing, and reminded me of honey lit by sunshine. I watched her, intrigued. _More prey, maybe? _

She giggled as she plucked one clover after another, examining each very carefully before tossing it down again. She was wearing shorts and a tank top. She had to be about four or five years old. I wondered if I could draw her into the shadows and take her to the others. They would love to sink their claws into her. Nile would love it as much as he loved the boy. I shifted my weight until a twig snapped under my foot. The girl's head jerked up and she stared wide-eyed into the woods. Unknowingly, her eyes met mine.

I inhaled sharply. Her eyes were so open and so innocent. They were the dark green of pine trees, or the shaded forest floor at dusk, or soft grass at midnight. They held my eyes with a strange gentleness that I wouldn't have expected in a child her age. She didn't see me, didn't know she was looking straight through my eyes to my very core.

In that instant, I saw the young woman she would become. She was going to be as beautiful as an ocean sunset; nothing but smoldering golden hair and soulful green eyes. Her spirit would remain beautiful too, shining in her for every Shadow Man to see.

She had looked away again. She laughed, throwing her head back gleefully. I grinned. _I bet I could make her laugh like that. _Her fingers danced over the grass. I closed my eyes and saw her as her older self again,imagined her running those delicate fingers through my hair. _Oh god, what is she? She can't be human, she's too lovely for this world . _Then I realized what I was doing.

I backed away, deeper into the dimness. She was still out there, hunting for that four-leafed clover. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. This was wrong. This was so wrong. I was a Shadow Man, otherworldly and sinful. She was a human, the most innocent, spirited human I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe that she wasn't some kind of angel. But, god, I wanted her. Even though she was breaking me, she did it so beautifully; I didn't mind being broken. No other Shadow Man could ever touch her. I would make sure of that personally.

I glanced at her again. The screen door slid open behind her and a woman poked her head out. "Jenny?" she called. "It's time for dinner, sweetheart."

_Jenny, _I thought. _My Jenny._

Jenny sighed wistfully as she scanned once more for her clover and then she scrambled to her feet and skipped inside. I couldn't look away until the door was shut behind her.

I shook my head, chuckling humorlessly. "I can't believe it," I murmured, where no Shadow Man could hear. I raked my hand through my hair. "I'm falling in love." The words were so unfamiliar to me. They didn't sound right with my voice. I wasn't sure that I could ever leave her.

That night, she found a four-leafed clover resting on her pillow.


End file.
